Family is King
by Gabzgirl
Summary: The four clans are snowed in the DunBroch castle on the most festive time of the year! On this special holiday, there is drinks and merriment, plus secret plans to be made under the mistletoe may be fulfilled. Surely the holidays are more meaningful than just presents and fun times, right? (Christmas story)
1. Chapter 1

**Made some edits :) **

**and thank you guys for your support! It really helps! **

* * *

The winter solstice had come early in Scotland, the days were shorter and the nights were long, this time around was probably the coldest season of the year.

A light snowstorm covered most of the Scottish highlands, what was once a lush field of green was now a under a blanket of snow.

And every year the kingdom of DunBroch celebrates the wintry weather with carousing once every week on the month of December until the coming of the New Year!

The heavens have been quite generous during the harvest season; the castle was fully stocked on quality meat, water, wheat and various crops.

Surely such a vast collection of food couldn't possibly go to waste, so the king and queen of DunBroch agreed they would invite their neighboring monarchies to join them in the coming holiday festivities.

The short winter days can be quite depressing, luckily Christmas revels were less than a fortnight away and truly such a festive occasion did really help lighten the people's newfound hope and happiness!

The King of DunBroch, Fergus was making sure everything was in order for the holiday feast, while his lovely queen Elinor sent out the invitations to the three clans and kept herself busy with other formalities and paperwork.

Maudie, the castle's nanny, had her hands full with giving the young prince's a proper bath, with the exception of for Hamish poor lad was bedridden no thanks to the measles' and a slight fever. Together the three were up to no good because of their older brother's brilliant schemes, now Hubert and Harris just do the simple tasks of sneaking in and out of bedtime or grabbing a fresh out of the oven sweet tart or two from the kitchen before supper.

Of course who could ever forget the princess of DunBroch, her long fiery red curls were nothing but illustrious and a beautiful signature that matched her strong personality.

Now Merida was not one to wallow away in her own castle, and on a cold winter's day wasn't an excuse to do such a thing. So she made herself productive as usual,

She grabbed her large black fur cloak and her favorite bow and handmade arrows in her leather quiver and dashed out of her room, down the stone steps with a big grin on her freckled flush face.

When she made it to the throne room, she slowed her pace and twirled her head up seeing the headings were up with red berries on them, she took the time to admire the splendor of the decorations before heading out,

Merida felt the castle was warm as many inglenooks were burning thick firewood as it crackled rather harmoniously as the servants were bustling setting up the holiday decors.

Many lovely candles were in every dark nook and corner making every room bright and the smell of freshly baked ginger, honey with a dash of sweet cinnamon filled the winter with its perfumes.

Her family's tradition consisted roasting chestnuts by the fire and sit for hours enjoying the glow of the embers while her father told the usual tale of his battle with the demon bear Mor'du, now this time it was Merida and her mother's turn to tell their tall tale of her meeting the witch and turning the queen to a bear.

Merida smiled looking forward to the holiday traditions, but for now she was ready to practice more of her arrow shooting, even though the snow outside was a few feet deep.

She unconsciously brushed passed her mother, whose nose stuck in a letter,

With a light gust, Elinor's head propped up turning to call out to her daughter

"Oh Merida dear-!" holding her arm out to reach her, but she already turned a corner

"Got'a go mum! Just gone shoot some quick rounds, be back before dinner!" Merida said in huff as Elinor saw her red curls take a sharp turn to the back straight to the stables.

Elinor let out a soft sigh dropping her arm to her side as her eyes narrowed a bit,

"Och, that girl and her archery…" the queen muttered with a small smile while shaking her head.

Elinor was indeed proud of her daughter, of course. But sometimes she'd wish Merida would take a breather more often in her archery practicing. Merida was already the best archer in the land, what more did she have to prove?

'Just like her father' Elinor would sometimes tell herself

Truly like Fergus, Merida is ambitious and took pride in her skills, yet there was always a deeper side to them that didn't show as often but when it did it was worth all the trouble in the world.

The queen smiled in thought and continued to walk toward the throne room to help set up from the winter feast.

Something Merida would find out about, sooner or later.

* * *

**Please forgive me - i haven't had the creativity to continue this and my creativness is very choppy **

**but there is more to come! I just wanted to post something up to show that i AM writing a christmas fic just like i said i would - its just been really difficult :( **

**Same status goes to my other Brave fanfic - its hard ... **

**pray for me! **

**and more to come soon!**

**xoxox - Gabzgirl**


	2. Chapter 2

Merida then strode towards Angus' stable where he was nibbling on a small stack of hay placed in the right corner of his cubical, his black coated hid was covered in a thick green color threaded cloth over on his back to keep him warm.

While Merida prepared his saddle and brace, she made sure she was comfortable enough to stay warm too. She looked up from the stables and saw the white clouded gray sky, while seeing specks of small snow falling. It was Merida's kind of weather!

She then hopped on top of Angus, clicked her heels on his thighs as a signal for him to gallop forward.

And off the two went to the now frosty woods!

* * *

Elinor finished reassuring a servant to place a holly on every candle stand, make sure the headings weren't crooked and higher, plus ensure the goose wasn't overcooked this time. She assumed her husband had it covered but he seemed more at lost than a dog trying to catch his tail. So naturally she took over as Fergus took the liberty of checking in on his boys and making sure the one's that aren't sick didn't give Maudie a horrible migraine.

It had been a couple of hours since Merida's departure, when suddenly a messenger came bustling in with news!

A middle aged man came storming in the castle shivering, his graying beard was full of white specks of snow s as he immediately asked the servants where his majesties were at as one pointed to the queen who was present in the throne room,

The messenger did his best to wipe off the snow he had on his shoulders and torso to present the news to his queen,

He bowed, "My lady queen, I bring news!"

Her hands clasped together in front of her, "Proceed" Elinor's attention was full on the messenger

"The three clans, they bring word that their ships have docked on our harbor and will be present within tonight" he let out a light sneeze,

Elinor was speechless as she let out a soft gasp, her eyes wide as she responded to this news

"My so presently! Gracious, I only sent out the invitations' just three days ago" she placed a delicate palm to her cheek, gesturing her surprise, "And Christmas is only two days away!"

"Forgive me my queen their arrival was just as a big surprise to us as you"

Elinor was indeed surprised alright, but she'd just have to improvise their early arrival and make some arrangements for their stay,

She cleared her throat, "Very well, please make sure the king hears about this news as well"

The messenger bowed his head several times before his departure, "Right away my liege"

Elinor couldn't help but stifle a giggle,

Now Merida was in for a surprise, not only were they planning a big holiday bash but now their guests were days early, and started to imagine how Merida would react and probably would start running amuck.

* * *

Merida let out a heavy sigh as she saw her breath turn into a puff of hot air.

She had just finished her rounds of shooting arrows for the past hour and a half, and decided to take a break and enjoy the gorgeous scenery that was in front of her,

Merida slowed Angus to a steady gallop, her cloak draped along her side, covering half of her horse's back. She had her hood up to protect her from the chill.

The princess savored her surroundings, looking up she saw how many trees were bare as each broad limb carried a collection of snow on each of them.

Suddenly a downpour of lovely light snow was raining down on her and Angus, as flakes of snow were landing gently on them. Merida gave a lovely smile to the wonder of nature's beauty.

Surely this is the ultimate reason why she at times disliked she might not have a choice and be exactly like her mother one day – having to have too many responsibilities as a royal that there wouldn't be any time to enjoy leisure pursuit.

It's not that Merida despised her life or her family,

No. _Not at all,_ it was far from that reason,

Merida is very blessed to have what she has and she acknowledged that.

Even though she was young, she felt the need for freedom every once in a while….but she wanted to relish it because she knew one day she would become the next queen to the throne.

Even though she would deny it sometimes, and it was plenty of times…

Merida was just scared.

Other people, her people, **her** clan, would count on her to always make the right decision as a queen, to be cautious, to be patient, to be _perfect!_

Merida unexpectedly pulled on Angus's rein as he let out a snort stopping his snow covered hooves from going forward.

Her blue eyes narrowed in pensiveness. Merida wasn't any of those things,

If anything she was brash, stubborn, overconfident, sometimes selfish and arrogant, even tended to be a bit too aggressive.

Merida bit her lower lip, what if the kingdom would fall because she was just not fit to rule, or made an honest mistake that led to her people to detest her enough to lose their loyalty to.

This caused Merida's eyes to sting a little …she didn't want such a thing to happen, no.

Perhaps she was being too hard on herself and these thoughts were just getting the best of her.

After all she is her mother's daughter, she is still learning in spite of everything that had occurred.

Merida only hoped that she wouldn't let her clan suffer through her mistakes,

She rubbed her shoulders to comfort herself from such thoughts and started to shiver, looking down she took a gander at her fingertips as they were red as a plumb. Hopping her fingers weren't frostbitten before she got home.

Realizing the light of day was becoming rather dim…

Merida gasped,

She became conscious that she was late for dinner!

"Ugh!" she spat out to herself muttering different swears in Gaelic

Quickly she grabbed on Angus's leather rein and turned him the opposite way and made a mad dash home!

While the frigid air gusting at her face causing her face to flush, she had a strange feeling at the pit of her stomach. Like something she unexpected was about to happen,

Merida didn't like that feeling one bit and hoped whatever it is she'd be brave enough to face it.

* * *

**Sorry for the short chapters, its so not like me to do that =/ **

**but every little bit counts and I don't want a good portion of the story to be left in the dark while my brain takes its time lol**

**bit of a lousy way to end the second chapter, i'll have to re-read and do some edits but no worries :) **

**I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas! **

**Godbless xoxox - Gabzgirl**


End file.
